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Melanie (aka ChiliHead) from Blogging Basics 101 shares with us tips on how to leverage multiple blogs to build a successful blogging career.
Juggling Multiple Blogs to Build Your Blogging Career from 5 Minutes for Mom on Vimeo.
This is the first of our series of interviews with Melanie.
We have been very fortunate over the last several months to have Melanie write our About Blogging monthly column. And while we are sad for us, we are excited for her, as her busy professional blogging life will no longer include writing for us… Hint… she has landed her an exciting new blogging gig.
What about you? Tell us about your blogging goals. How many blogs do you have and what are their urls?
Meet more blogging moms on our video feature interviews.
Angela says
I have found blogging is finger exercises for my professional writing life. The two I keep, a personal one and one journeying my homeschool life, are easy to keep up with as I write when I have the urge. I hope they compell others to think, go deeper into God and see the wonder all around them. But like most writers, I write first for myself…
http://acbfurtherupandfurtherin.wordpress.com/
http://toomuchtoask.wordpress.com/
mannequin says
What a nice interview! Anytime I see the name “chilihead”, I come running. I am so happy for her that everything is falling into place; she has apparently worked quite hard to get where she is and it’s easy to see why she’s in such demand.
One incredible writer and an incredible woman, Melanie’s my favorite! Although I will miss her posts here, I couldn’t be happier for her! What an inspiration she is in addition to crackin me up over at Don’t Try This at Home and walking me through blogging at Bloggy Basics101.
I’m the author of Fractured Toy and this little author has no idea where she’s headed. I only know I’m enjoying the ride!
Petula says
I always find it interesting that some people can juggle more than one blog. I only have one… well, I actually have another one out there, but I don’t update it anymore. It’s interesting though that people still visit, comment — and most importantly — find it helpful.
BTW: Susan, thanks for stopping by and wishing me a happy birthday. Have a great week.
Angie says
Great interview and tips.
I have two blogs right now. One for healthy weight loss tips which is where I also share my weight loss journey. It was an add on to my main website. My goal for this blog is to show others that anything is possible by sharing my personal story and keeping things real, sharing product reviews that fit the niche, etc. Lots of goals for this blog.
Then I have my personal blog at http://angierambles.blogspot.com and it’s just that, for anything personal. Things from personal product reviews, give aways, working from home, family stuff and more. To be honest, I need more writing experience and here I can just blab away and practice.
Ultimately, I would like to have a few more blogs, maybe one that focuses on our traveling experiences, one for just business tips and maybe a family one but I have a long way to go for those. I’m learning day by day and having fun with it.
Maddy says
Oopsie, I forgot the addresses:-
Whitterer On Autism
“Alien in a Foreign Field”
“Sandwiched Genes”
“View From A Broad”
Did I mention I was technically challenged? Or should that just be forgetful?
Cheers
Maddy says
That was a very helpful video and gives me a good perspective on ‘time.’
Time management seems to be key which is why I’ve only just managed to get around to reading this now! Tells you all you need to know really.
I write / manage 4 blogs:-
This is my main and first blog about family life with two autistic children. I hope it’s a place where similarly situated families can find each other.
This is my second blog where I can be more rude about life living in American as an expat. Hopefully it’s just a gentle tease.
This is my new blog now that our busy family has responsibilities for our parents too. I suspect that many other people are moving into this phase of life and I hope to keep the humour quotient high and the frustration quotient low.
This is the blog that I’ve been managing for my daughter whilst she’s been working abroad teaching Aides Awareness to teachers in Mozambique.
I’ve often visited blogging basics as I have a great deal of ‘technical’ knowledge to learn as evidenced by my terror of tampering with my template!
Very best wishes for a job well done.
Cheers
Mayke Beckmann Briggs says
I have one blog – so far – called Here You Are (the title of my spiritual children’s book) at hereyouarebook.blogspot.com which is about spiritual insights of motherhood, marriage and meditation.
I was just contemplating spinning off several new blogs from it as that would be a lot easier than reorganizing my lovely old blog. So this post was very helpful to me. Thanks. I’ll leave another comment here someday soon when I get it done. It think it could be as many as five blogs total in the end. I have five kids – so five blogs sounds about right.
Tonya says
Melanie, that was a great interview, I’ve always found your Blogging Basics 101 blog extremely helpful.
**********
I have 3 blogs, 2 of which I’ve just recently launched. I started as a mummy blogger to keep my family and friends overseas and across the country up-to-date with the kids, then I found that I was adding a lot of my own fun things too and the blog began to evolve. It is still a ‘family’ blog but I do the occasional product review (if the product fits our family), offer recipes, household tips and anything else that I think will help people who are reading my blog.
I decided a few months ago that I wanted to start a crafting blog because I just love to do crafty projects and wanted to offer tutorials, share the projects I’d been working on and offer tips on where to purchase things and how to re-use existing things. I’d like this blog to go somewhere, I’m just not sure where yet. It’s still my baby so I’m nuturing it and gradually adding things to it.
For a couple of years now I have been told by friends that I should be a party planner. I’ve always loved to throw kids and themed parties, loved researching them and am seriously addicted to party planning shows. I would love to start my own party planning business one day, but for now I blog about my ideas, link to other people’s ideas and give tips, tutorials and recipes to inspire others to host fabulous parties on any budget. I truly hope that this blog takes off and I can inspire people with my ideas and hope it leads to much greater things in the future.
Our family blog
http://thestaabfamily.blogspot.com
My crafty blog
http://currentlycrafting.blogspot.com
My party planning blog
http://munchkinsandmayhem.blogspot.com
Heather says
Hi! I have 2 blogs, my personal blog, Blue Eyed Blondies, & my “business” blogtique, The Gift Closet. I want to focus all my time & energy on the Gift Closet, but have to remember to put some time into keeping up my family one. My goal for my family one is to share our life w/ friends & family & turn it into a scrapbook at some point. My goal for The Gift Closet is to let my creative, maven side flow! 🙂
Christin says
Thank you so much Melanie for the tips! I think the one that struck me the most was that you have to write well in order for people to want to come and read your blog. While it shouldn’t be surprising, somehow it was! The thought had crossed my mine on occasion to actually use the steps in the writing process to write my entries, but I thought “who has time for that?!”.
I am still unclear how people make blogging a career. How fun would that be! Unfortunately, now is not the season in my life for that. I am mom to four whom I homeschool, so that is my “career” for now (and many years to come!) So for now, it will remain a hobby. As fun as it is, I would love it to count for something and be of help to others. I just haven’t found my niche yet, I guess.
Anyways THANK YOU!
Kristen Andrews from La Dolce Vita says
I have two blogs:
La Dolce Vita http://www.kristenandrewsonline.blogspot.com which is my personal blog and I also share my hand stamped jewelry creations.
My second blog is brand new and is La Dolce Vita and friends Ladolcevitaandfriends.blogspot.com
I started my second blog to not only promote my own jewelry but also other great inde artists.
My goal for both is to share my life, experiences and also my love for my jewelry making.
I would love to be able to be a professional blogger and still run my jewelry business
Happy Mama says
This would be It’s A Long Story (Family blog)
http://ohthestoriesicouldtell(dot)blogspot(dot)com/
This is Happy Home (my everything Blog)
http://brightspot4you(dot)blogspot.com
And then Food For Thought (devotional blog)
http://food-for-thought-4-today.blogspot(dot)com/
I just recently added Food For Thought and It’s a Long Story
My site used to be Pollywog pond and I love to do this!! It’s been a great strss reliever! And I have actually been doing this for two years and have just posted my 205th post on Happy home
Between all three it’s been 240 total!
Wow Times (and posts) Fly when you are having fun!
Deb - Mom of 3 Girls says
This was a great interview – so good to put faces with names! 🙂
I have two – my personal blog and my product review/giveaway blog. I started blogging with no goals, except to record my thoughts and experiences for my kids to read someday, and to have an outlet for writing. Once I started, I also began to love being a part of the blogging community as well. I wish I could find a way to expand blogging into more of a career – I love doing it so much more than my full-time one and would love to blog full-time instead. But I have no illusions as to how difficult that is, so am just seeing what happens as I go. 🙂
http://www.momof3girls.net
http://www.momstakeonthings.com
Mommy Brain Reports says
I have 2 blogs worth mentioning:
My personal blog, Mommy Moments:
http://www.mommymoments.net
and my review blog,
Mommy Brain Reports:
http://www.mommybrainreports.com
I do have a 3rd crafty blog where I was showing off some of my wares, but It just hasn’t been given enough time.. You can see it at Mommy Brain Life: http://www.mommybrainlife.com
My other obsession is my parenting site, which is currently undergoing major renovation.. to include a blog. That one is called Parents Cental.. http://www.parentscentral.net
It’s a ton of work juggling all of these sites, especially as a mom of 3yo twins… but I manage to do most of it all when they’re napping, or sleeping for the night. I’m lucky I have a super supportive husband, and some friends that help out as well… especially on the Parents Central site.
I’d eventually like to bring in a little fun money with my blogs, but for now, I focus on just having fun with them, and making sure I spend plenty of time with my girls…